Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Almost Vegan Gingerbread Biscotti

For being a non-coffee drinker and never dunking any cookies in anything, I love biscotti. I realize you don’t have to fit that bill to like biscotti, but it is actually one of my favorite kinds of cookies. It has to be made just right though. I don’t like the rock hard kind that would be more suitable for dunking. I like them crisp, but with a little chew. These Almost Vegan Gingerbread Biscotti fit that bill and are actually pretty healthy, too! My kind of treat!

I’ve made these twice and changed a few things the second time---to make them even more healthy. I will admit, the first ones (less whole wheat flour, more oil and real sugar, as written in the recipe), are the better of the two, but I like that the second time around they are a bit better for you.

Here’s the recipe as I made them the first time, which by the way I got the recipe over at Anna’s blog, Cookie Madness. She got the recipe from another site which are from a cookbook called Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Anna adapted the recipe a bit and I have, too. But check out the original post and Anna’s. She’s also got a number of other gingerbread biscotti recipes on her blog as well!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour(s), baking powder, spices and salt in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together. In another bowl, combine the oil, molasses, sugar, ground flax, milk and vanilla and whisk until mixed well. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until a dough is formed. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips just until combined.

Put all of the dough on the baking sheet and form into about a 12 inch long log about 3-4 inches wide. Flatten the ends and sides to make them even. Bake for 24 minutes until the log is puffed and firm, but not too brown. It will spread a little and some cracking is fine. Allow the log to cool on the baking sheet for about 45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Slide the log off the baking sheet and onto a cutting board. With a large, sharp knife or a serrated knife, cut log into 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick slices. Gently move slices to the baking sheet with a spatula or the flat side of the knife all in a row, but not too close together. Bake again for 15-20 minutes (until desired crispiness is achieved). Allow to cool on baking sheet about 10 minutes. Carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

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I could live off this biscotti. ;)

The second time I made them, I used only 6 tablespoons of oil (instead of 8) and I used all whole wheat flour and a sugar substitute (called Fibrelle—which isn’t available in stores yet. The company sent me some to try out. I really like it, but it’s not available in stores yet, so I can’t really tell you too much about it.) I do like that it doesn’t TASTE like a lot of those sugar substitutes, which I often don’t care for.

The second batch weren’t quite as thick and spread a little more, but were still great and I like that they were all whole wheat.

So there you have it—another healthier treat you can try. I really like ginger and chocolate together. You could leave that out and add some dried cranberries if you’d rather. If you like biscotti, these are great!